On average, California nurses are the highest paid

Nurse Leader Insider, October 27, 2016

California now leads the country in nursing wages, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics released the 2015 salary data for registered nurses in each state, and California came out on top, with the average salary breaking $100,000 a year. California beat out Hawaii and Massachusetts, with the average salaries of $90,000 and $88,000, respectively; the average salary across the country in 2015 was $71,000.

Experts suggest a few reasons for this trend. California has some of the country’s highest cost of living, especially around city centers like San Francisco and Los Angeles. San Francisco in particular has the highest rents in the country, which explains why the average nurse makes $133,000 in the city. California also employs the most RNs of any state, with 255,010 employed across the state; this has led to a stronger nurse union for California RNs, who have access to pension plans and health benefits during retirement. Finally, California instituted laws that established a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio in 1999, increasing demand for RNs across the state.

The pay for registered nurses has come a long way over the past few decades across the country; as one expert says, it wasn’t long ago that nurses made less than grocery store clerks.

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